Retainer



CHARLES H. CONGDON, OF EAST STROUDSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

RETAINER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Muay 2o, 1919.

Application led April 4, 1918. Serial No. 226,684.

To all who-m. it may concern Be it known t-hat I, CHARLES H. CoNGDoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Stroudsburg, in the county of Monroe, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Retainers, of which the following is such a full, clear, and concise description as is required by the statute.

My invention relates to devices for holding papers, clippings, disk records, or any other similar flat matter, and has for its purpose the provision of a device of this kind wherein the available space shall be utilized to the best advantage, wherein all the papers, etc., except those to which the device is opened, shall be looked in, and in which all the papers, etc., shall be locked in when the device is closed, and which shall, when opened up, lie fiat and thus make the insertion or withdrawal of papers etc. easy. These objects, thus briefly stated, will be more clearly brought out as the description proceeds.

The description is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part hereof. In these drawings Figure 1 illustrates one of the elements or units of which the retainer is composed, after the unit is cut out but before it is folded; Fig. 2 shows this same unit creased and partly folded to indicate the direction in which the folding is effected; Fig. 3 shows the unit with the folding and pasting completed and the binding wire inserted; Fig. 4 illustrates one of the binding wires; Fig. 5 shows the units collected into a book or retainer; Fig. 6 shows the completed retainer opened up; Fig. 7 shows a diagrammatic view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 8 of a modification in the binding means; Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic sectional view on line 8-8 of Fig. 7; while Fig. 9 is a side view of a strip of liber used in this modification. Some of the figures will be seen at a glance to be on a different scale from the others.

Referring first to Fig. 1 the full lines show the form to which the paper or other material, of which the units are made, is out; while the lines along which the unit is to be folded are shown in dots. The portion 1 is to be folded over into contact with the portion 2, after which the two flaps 3 and 4 are folded down over portion 1 and pasted down. This forms a pocket with its opening toward the line 5. The portion 11 is similarly' folded to come into contact with 21 but on the side away from the pocket formed by 1 and 2. This will be quite clear from an inspection of Fig. 2. The flaps 31 and 41 are then folded down over 1l and also pasted down. The result, as shown in Fig. 8, is a unit folded on line 5 and comprising two leaves, each leaf provided with a pocket, but the pockets on alternate pages. rIhus in the unit as shown, the pockets are on pages '2 and 4, while pages 1 and 3 are plain.

Any desired number of units such as described may be assembled into a book or retainer. Means I employ for binding them together are illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. The wire 7 is provided in its length with any desired number of spaced V-shaped bends 8, three bein shown in the ligure. The wire is placed into the folded unit as shown in Fig. 3, so that the bends 6 extend through openings or slits 8 made in the paper along the fold or crease 5 at points to correspond with the spacing of the bends in the wire. A cord 9 is drawn through the bends 6 which lic above each other when the entire set of units making up; the retainer is assembled. One such'cord is illustrated in Fig. 5, and it will be understood that there are similar cords drawn through the other bends. Each cord may be merely tied, in case the binding is meant to be temporary only, if preferred a single cord may be successively threaded through all the sets of bends. It will be clear that the binding may if preferred be made more permanent by securingthe ends vof the cords'to an outside cover w ich may hey provided. v

While for some purposes the binding just described is adequate, in other cases the modification or addition illustrated dia- Orammatically in Figs. 7, 8, and 9 will be ound desirable. Strips 10, preferably of fiber, are placed between the V-shaped bends 6 of adjacent units. In Fig. 7 the strips and wires are shown slightly separated to bring out the arrangement more clearly. It will be understood that when the retainer is assembled these are brought into closer vcontact by the action of the cords. The cord passes thro h the bends 6 and through correspondingly located perforations 11 in the fiber strips. In openin the retainer the fiber strips are brought Yinto a more or less arcuate position relatively to each other,

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which is facilitated by the bevels l2 which prevent the strips from interfering With each other.

In one application of the completed retainer which i contemplate, i. c. its use as an album for holding phonograph disk records for children, I utilize the page formed by the pocket liap and the )age facing it in the following manner. )Gn the flap l print a picture or other desired illustrative matter pertaining to the song on the record which is to be kept in tnat particular pocket; While on the page facing it I print the music and Words of the song on the rec-- ord. In using the device, the child will take a record from the album, place it on the machine, and While the record is being played, follow the music and the Wordsy and look at the illustrative matter on the open pages of the book.

Both in this use as an album for a childs records and in its general use as a retainer for clippings, papers, etc., the feature that the matter placed into the pockets cannot fall out When the retainer or album is closed, and that when it is open no material can fall out of the pockets which remain closed, is of great value.

It Will be clear that a number of variations can readily be made in my invention fithout departing from its spirit. Thus it will be evident that instead of binding the sheets singly tivo or more may be placed inside of each other and bound with one ivire, the il-shaped bends of W` ich pass through all of them. The bends of the Wire need not be exactly il-shaped, but may y be given a U shape, or Inay be made rectangular. In some cases it will be found su'ticient to use only one such bend in each Wire. Instead of fasteningdown the pocket flaps by means of the strips 2, 3 and 21, 31, separate strips of paper or cloth may be employed. The thickening of the binding by means of the fiber strips is evidently not limited to use With the pocketed structure described, but is of equal utility in case the body of the leaves is thicker on some other account, such as the fact that photographs are mounted on the pages. Such variations Will naturally occur in the practice of my invention, and the subjoined claims are meant to include them.

What I claim is 1. A sheet of paper or similar material folded along a line parallel to tivo of its edges, thus forming four pages, and having a pocket on alternate pages.

2. A sheet of paper or similar material folded along a line parallel to two of its edges, thus forming four pages, and having a pocket on alternate pages, said pockets opening toward the fold.

3. The combination of a plurality of leaves bound together along one edge,.each provided With a pocket opening in the direction toward the bound edge, the leaves being so arranged that plain and pocketed pages alternate.

4. A device of the type described comprising pocketed sheets bound together the pockets being on alternate pages and ada 3ted to hold a disk record each, the pocket flap and the plain page facing it bearing printed matter related to the matter on the record to be kept in the pockets.

5. A device of the kind described coinprising pocketed sheets bound together the pockets being on alternate pages and adapted to hold a disk record each, the pocket flap of each pocket and the plain page facing it bearing pictorial matter, Words, and music corresponding to the matter on the record to be kept in the pocket.

G. A device of the type described comprising pocketed sheets bound along one edge, the pockets being on alternate pages, and opening toward the bound edge, each pocket bearing pictorial or other illustrative matter, the page facing it having printed on it music and Words, the pictorial matter and the music and Words all corresponding to the matter on the record to be kept in the pocket.

CHARLES H. CONGDON.

Copies of this patent may 'ne obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

